Marvin Wachman, b. March 24, 1917, served as the sixth president of
Temple University from 1973-1983. While at Temple, President Wachman was
best known for his work in improving facilities, community relations and
finances in his administration of the large university, a task he
described as "running a small city." He broadened
Temple's local and international reach by opening the Temple
University Center City and Temple University Japan campuses, and boldly
established connections with leadership in China by offering Vice
Premier Deng Xiaoping an honorary degree in 1979, relationships that
endure today.

The son of Russian immigrants who had little formal education,
President Wachman grew up in Milwaukee. Thanks to a tennis scholarship,
he was able to attend Northwestern University, where he studied history.
He received his bachelor's and master's degrees from
Northwestern and went on to earn a doctorate in history from the
University of Illinois in 1942. After serving four years as a U.S. Army
combat infantry sergeant in France and Germany during WWII, he returned
to the classroom.

President Wachman taught at Colgate University for 13 years and
spent two years directing the Salzburg Seminar in Austria, before
becoming president of Lincoln University in 1961. At Lincoln, President
Wachman, a white Jewish president, led the historically black university
through the most contentious years of the Civil Rights movement, drawing
on his instinct to talk through differences and his strong ability to
build consensus. After serving as president of Lincoln for eight and a
half years, President Wachman came to Temple as vice president for
academic affairs in 1969. In 1973, he was inaugurated as Temple's
sixth president.

During his tenure, President Wachman eliminated Temple
Hospital's $50 million debt, oversaw the co-existence of a faculty
union with a viable Faculty Senate and launched a centennial fundraising
challenge. He also served as leader of the Pennsylvania Higher Education
Assistance Agency, which distributes scholarships and loans to
commonwealth students, and served as president of the Pennsylvania
Association of Colleges and Universities, an organization that
represents 117 institutions of higher learning throughout the state.

In 2005 Temple University Press published President Wachman's
memoir, "The Education of a University President." During his
retirement, President Wachman continued to play an active role in the
lives of Temple students as a professor emeritus in the History
Department and honorary chancellor of the university. Between 1982 and
2007, Marvin and Adeline Wachman established four special funds to
support student and faculty scholarship at Temple: the Marvin and
Adeline Wachman Scholarship Fund, the Wachman Endowed Graduate Research
Fellowship in History Fund, the Adeline L. Wachman Endowed Scholarship
in Theater Fund, and, most recently, the Marvin Wachman Director of the
Center for the Study of Force and Diplomacy. Afifth fund, the the Marvin
and Adeline Wachman History Scholarship, was established in 1992 by the
Kohn Foundation in honor of Marvin and Adeline Wachman.

In tribute to Marvin and Adeline, in 2006 Temple created the
Wachman Society which recognizes individuals who have made gifts to the
University for 25 or more consecutive years. There are now over 400
members of the Wachman Society.

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